Elon poll finds big gender gap in Senate race

Of all the numbers released Monday in another new U.S. Senate race poll, the gap between men and women is the most striking: a 19 percent difference in point of view.

Fifty-two percent of women respondents favor Sen. Kay Hagan, contrasted with 33 percent for Thom Tillis, the Elon Poll reports. Half of the men surveyed support Tillis, while only 38 percent back Hagan.

“National polls have suggested the gender gap in voting is narrowing,” Jason Husser, an assistant professor and assistant director of the Elon University survey, said in a news release. “That isn’t the case in North Carolina.”

The Democratic incumbent Hagan has 85 percent of the African-American likely voters. Fifty-one percent of white respondents support Republican Tillis.

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Overall, the poll found just a slight edge for Hagan, giving her a four-point lead, which is within the margin of error. Nine percent of likely voters said they plan to support another candidate besides those two, and 5 percent said they don’t yet know how they will vote.

Other recent polls have given Hagan a lead ranging from 3 to 9 percentage points.

Other findings:

• A majority of likely voters, 51 percent, disapprove of the way Hagan is doing her job. But they don’t think much of the General Assembly, either, where Tillis is speaker of the House: 54 percent disapprove.

• Support for President Barack Obama has dropped: 54 percent disapprove of the way he’s handling his job, and 38 percent approve. But only 10 percent give overall approval to Congress for its work.

• Support for Gov. Pat McCrory is fairly even: 43 percent approve of him and 44 don’t.

• A sizable portion of likely voters think the federal health care law will make things worse in North Carolina: 49 percent, compared with 35 percent who say it will make things better and 11 percent who think it won’t make a difference.

• On social issues: Support for gay marriage is 45-43 percent. Forty-five percent say the state should make access to abortion less difficult, 39 percent want it to be more difficult and 14 percent don’t know.

The poll was taken by landline and cell phone of 1,078 residents — 629 were identified as likely voters — Sept. 5 to 9. It has a margin of error of 3.91 percentage points for likely voters.

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